Books on Black American History

Recent Books on Black American History

Edited by Holloway, Joseph and Clegg,
Claude, Indiana University Press, June
2005, Paperback

The Autobiography of Medgar Evers: A Hero's Life and Legacy Revealed
Through His Writings, Letters, and Speeches

Edited by Evers-Williams, Myrlie,
and Marable, Manning, Basic Civitas
Books, June 2005, Hardcover
The story of one the greatest leaders of the Civil Rights movement brings
his achievement to life for a new generation. His personal documents,
writings, and speeches provide a cohesive narrative detailing the rise
and tragic death of a civil rights hero.

Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom

Williams, Heather Andrea, University
of North Carolina Press, March 2005,
Hardcover
Discussing how African Americans in the South sought education during
and after the Civil War, this work highlights the efforts former slaves
made on their own behalf by teaching, building schools, and attending
school themselves.

We Flew Over the Bridge: The Memoirs of Faith Ringgold

Ringgold, Faith, Duke University
Press, March 2005, Paperback
One of the country's preeminent African-American artists and an award-winning
children's book author shares the fascinating story of her life as she
looks back on her struggles, growth, and triumphs in this gorgeously
illustrated work.

Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society

Brown, Michael K , Carnoy, Martin
Currie, Elliott, University of California
Press, February 2005, Paperback
A brilliant multi-authored work -- NOT an essay collection -- about
the resilience of racial discrimination in the United States and the
catastrophic effects of the demise of affirmative action and other civil
rights era social programs in contemporary America.

Clinton, Catherine, Back Bay Books,
January 2005, Paperback
This is a long-overdue historical work on one of the most important
figures in American history, written by an acclaimed historian of the
antebellum era. Harriet Tubman was the first and only woman, fugitive
slave, and black to work as a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates
Inequality

Marable, Manning, Paradigm Publishers,
January 2005, Paperback
Newly updated. Brings out the interconnections, unity, and consistency
of W. E. B. Du Bois's life and writings. Marable covers Du Bois's disputes
with Booker T. Washington, his founding of the NAACP, his work as a
social scientist, popular figure, and his involvement in politics, placing
them into the context of Du Bois's views on black pride, equality, and
cultural diversity. Marable stresses that, as a radical democrat, Du
Bois viewed the problems of racism as intimately connected with capitalism.

White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son

Wise, Tim, Soft Skull Press, January
2005, Paperback
In "White Like Me," Wise offers a highly personal examination of the
ways in which racial privilege shapes the lives of most white Americans,
overtly racist or not, to the detriment of people of color, themselves,
and society. Using stories instead of stale statistics, Wise weaves
a narrative that is at once readable and scholarly, analytical, and
accessible.

Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American
Hero

Larson, Kate Clifford, One World,
December 2004, Paperback
In this long-overdue biography, historian Kate Clifford Larson gives
Harriet Tubman the powerful, intimate, meticulously detailed life she
deserves. Drawing from a trove of new documents and sources as well
extensive genealogical research, Larson reveals Tubman as a complex
woman--brilliant, shrewd, deeply religious, and passionate in her pursuit
of freedom.

Quitting America

Robinson, Randall, Plume Books,
December 2004, Paperback
From the author of "The Debt" comes a memoir that charts his journey
from the most powerful nation on earth to the tiny tropical island where
his wife was born. A #1 "Essence" bestseller.

Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People

Bradford, Sarah, Dover Publications,
November 2004, Paperback
Inspiring story of bravery, perseverance, and self-sacrifice recalls
the courageous life of one of the most well-known "conductors" on the
Underground Railroad. Written by Tubman's contemporary, the memorable
biography recalls the former slave's grim childhood; her perilous experiences
leading slaves into Canada; her efforts as a nurse, cook, and scout
for the Union Army during the Civil War, and many other activities.
Must reading for students of American history and African-American studies.

In Search of Hannah Crafts: Critical Essays on the Bondwoman's Narrative

Horton, James Oliver , Horton, Lois
E, Oxford University Press, November
2004, Hardcover
This companion volume to the four-part PBS series on the history of
American slavery--narrated by Morgan Freeman and scheduled to air in
February 2005--illuminates the human side of this inhumane institution,
presenting it largely through the stories of the slaves themselves.
Features 120 illustrations.

The Autobiography of William Sanders Scarborough: An American Journey
from Slavery to Scholarship

Scarborough, W S, Ronnick, Michele
Valerie (Editor), Gates, Henry Louis,
Jr. (Foreword by), Wayne State University
Press, November 2004,
Hardcover
This illuminating autobiography traces Scarborough's path out of slavery
in Macon, Georgia, to a prolific scholarly career that culminated with
his presidency of Wilberforce University.

African-American History from Emancipation to Today: Rising Above
the Ashes of Slavery

Byers, Ann , Gates, Henry Louis,
Jr. (Foreword by), Enslow Publishers,
October 2004, Library Binding
Emancipation did not solve the problems or correct the injustices of
over 200 years of slavery. In this vital addition to the Slavery In
American History series, author Ann Byers explores life in the United
States after emancipation into today. Highlights include Plessy v. Ferguson,
Brown v. Board of Education, the Martin Luther King, Jr., march on Washington,
the Voting Rights Act, and the reparations debate.

Atonement and Forgiveness: A New Model for Black Reparations

Brooks, Roy L, University of California
Press, October 2004, Hardcover
Reframing one of the most important, controversial, and misunderstood
issues of modern times, this book puts forward a powerful new plan for
repairing the damaged relationship between the federal government and
black Americans based on a model of atonement and forgiveness.

Slave Uprisings and Runaways: Fighting for Freedom and the Underground
Railroad

Wilder, Craig Steven, Columbia University
Press, 2001, Paperback
Examines race, class, and society in Brooklyn over three centuries from
the colonial period to the present."

A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America

Takaki, Ronald T, Back Bay Books,
1994, Paperback

A Personal Odyssey

Sowell, Thomas, Free Press, 2000,
Hardcover
This is the gritty story of Thomas Sowell's life-long education in the
school of hard knocks, as the journey took him from Harlem to the Marines,
the Ivy League, and a career as a controversial writer, teacher, and
economist in government and private industry. It is also the story of
the dramatically changing times in which this personal odyssey took
place. Photos throughout.

Edwards, Judith , Gates, Henry Louis,
Jr. (Foreword by), Enslow Publishers,
2004, Library Binding
During the pre-Civil War era, abolitionists--both black and white--and
slave resisters helped bring about the end of slavery in the United
States. Brought about by abolitionists' and slave resisters' efforts,
the Emancipation Proclamation and later the Thirteenth Amendment to
the Constitution helped Americans to eliminate slavery. In this addition
to the Slavery in American History series, Judith Edwards explores the
heroic actions that came out of the abolitionist movement and slave
resistance.

Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800

Thornton, John, Burke III, Edmund
(Editor), Curtin, Philip D (Editor),
Cambridge University Press, 1998, Paperback
Focusing especially on the causes and consequences of the slave trade,
in Africa, in Europe, and in the New World, this book explores Africa's
involvement in the Atlantic world from the 15th through the 18th centuries.
Author John Thornton examines the dynamics that made slaves so necessary
to European colonizers. This new edition contains an added chapter on
18th-century developments.

African Presence in Early America

Van Sertima, Ivan ,
Transaction Publishers, 1987, Paperback
This volume presents what is presently known about the links between
Africa and America before the age of Columbus. It makes a convincing
case for pre-Columbian contacts between Africa and America before the
era of the slave trade. The contributors draw upon the evidence of cultures
in private collections and findings from excavations, and evidence of
ancient African mathematics, astronomy, map-making, scripts, navigations,
trade routes, pyramidal structures, linguistic connections, and technological
and ritual complexes. The volume is profusely illustrated.

Africans and Native Americans

Forbes, Jack D, University of Illinois
Press, 1993, Paperback

Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther
Party and the American Indian Movement

Churchill, Ward , Vander Wall, Jim
(Joint Author), South End Press, 2002,
Paperback
For those wondering how Bill Clinton could pardon white-collar fugitive
Marc Rich but not Native American leader Leonard Peltier, important
clues can be found in this classic study of the FBI's Cointelpro (Counterintelligence
Program). Agents of Repression includes an incisive historical account
of the FBI siege of Wounded Knee, and reveals the viciousness of Cointelpro
campaigns targeting the Black Liberation movement. The authors' new
introduction examines the legacies of the Panthers and AIM, and shows
how the FBI still presents a threat to those committed to fundamental
social change.

Alice Walker: Critical Perspectives Past and Present

Walker, Alice , Gates, Henry Louis,
Jr. Appiah, Kwame Anthony, Amistad
Press, 1993, Paperback
Alice Walker's achievements as a writer are characterized by an astonishing
versatility. She is equally at home with poetry and fiction -- it's
worth remembering her first appearance in book form was as a poet, not
as a novelist or fiction writer. Indeed, as an essayist alone she would
be noteworthy presence in American letters... But it is her novels for
which she is best known, and it is her novels in which the full complexity
of her vision is most evident.-- from the Preface by Henry Louis Gates,
Jr.

Andrews, William L (Editor); Gates,
Henry Louis, Jr. (Editor), Library
of America, 2000, Hardcover
The ten works collected in this volume present unflinching portrayals
of the cruelty and degradation of slavery while testifying to the African-American
struggle for freedom and dignity. Includes a chronology of events.

An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King

Pepper, William F, Verso, 2003,
Hardcover
In this controversial book, a journalist-turned-lawyer
tells the tragic story of Martin Luther
King, Jr.Us, powerful and significant
radicalism
and the government plans for his execution
that involved the military and the FBI.

Another Dimension to the Black Diaspora: Diet, Disease and Racism

King, Virginia Himmelsteib, Kiple,
Kenneth F, Cambridge University Press,
2003, Paperback
A study of black disease immunities and susceptibilities and their impact
on slavery and racism.

Davis, Angela Yvonne, Seven Stories
Press, 2003, Paperback
World-renowned activist Angela Davis discusses how mass incarceration
has had little or no effect on crime, how disproportionate numbers of
the poor and minorities end up in prison, and the obscene profits the
system generates.

Edwards, Pamela Duncan, Cole, Henry
Duncan, HarperTrophy, 1999, Paperback
Innovative perspective and use of light as well as a spare text result
in an unforgettable portrayal of one slave's journey to freedom. Full
color.

Katz, William Loren, Simon Pulse,
1997, Paperback
The author explores the little-told story of black Indians, defined
here as people with dual African and Native American ancestry or African
Americans who lived primarily with Native Americans. Using fascinating
biographies and detailed research, Katz creates a chronology of this
hidden heritage during the settlement of the American West. Illustrations.
Young Adult.

Sowell, Thomas, Quill, 1985, Paperback
It is now more than three Decemberades since the historic Supreme Court
Decemberision on desegregation, "Brown v. Board of Education. Thomas
Sowell takes a tough, factual look at what has actually happened over
these Decemberades -- as distinguished from the hopes with which they
began or the rhetoric with which they continue, Who has gained and who
has lost? Which of the assumptions behind the civil rights revolution
have stood the test of time and which have proven to be mistaken or
even catastrophic to those who were supposed to be helped?

Colored People

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. , West,
Cornel, Vintage Books USA, 1995, Paperback
From an American Book Award-winning author comes a pungent and poignant
masterpiece of recollection that ushers readers into a now-vanished
"colored" world and extends and deepens our sense of African-American
history, even as it entrances us with its bravura storytelling.

Confounding the Color Line: The Indian-Black Experience in North America

Robinson, Randall N, Plume Books,
1999, Paperback
The author provides a personal account of his rise from poverty in the
segregated South to a position as one of the most distinguished and
outspoken political activists of the time.

Hooks, Bell , Marable, Manning (Editor),
South End Press, 2000, Paperback
The book that established hooks as one of international feminism's most
challenging and influential voices has been updated with a new Preface
by the author reflecting on the book's impact and development of her
ideas since it was first published.

Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream

Bennett, Lerone, Johnson Publishing
Company, 1999, Hardcover

Free Market Racism

Andrews, Marcellus , Andrews, unknown,
Et, New York University Press, 2001,
Paperback
The Political Economy of Hope and Fear analyses the role technology,
capitalism and conservative economic and social policy have played in
determining the economic status of black Americans at the end of the
20th century. Andrews argues that black people are poorer, sicker, and
less well educated than whites because the blue collar road to middle-class
life has given way to technology, globalization and free market conservatism.

Freedom's Daughters: A Juneteenth Story

Olson, Lynne, Scribner Book Company,
2001, Hardcover
Tells the story of the extraordinary women who were among the most fearless,
resourceful, and tenacious leaders of the civil rights movement. Includes
portraits of more than sixty women.

Generations of Captivity: A History of African-American Slaves

Berlin, IRA, Belknap Press, 2003,
Hardcover
From its beginnings in the 17th century to its fiery demise nearly 300
years later, Berlin traces the history of African-American slavery in
the United States. 6 halftones. Maps & tables.

George Washington Carver

Carver, George Washington, University
of Missouri Press, 1991, Paperback

Go Tell It on the Mountain

Baldwin, James A, Dial Press, 2000,
Paperback
As one of the century's premier American writers, James Baldwin has
profoundly altered the nation's social and literary consciousness. "Go
Tell It on the Mountain", Baldwin's first novel, brings Harlem and the
black experience vividly to life, as it starkly contrasts two generations
of an embattled black family.

Great Moments in Black History: Wade in the Water

Bennett, Lerone, Johnson Publishing
Company, 2000, Hardcover

How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political
Economy, and Society

Marable, Manning, South End Press,
2000, Paperback
A classic study of race and class in the United States, Marable's book
has become a standard text for courses in African American politics
and history. In this new edition of his classic work, Marable examines
developments in the political economy of racism in the United States
and assesses shifts in the American political terrain since the first
edition was published in 1983.

Taylor, Yuval (Editor); Johnson,
Charles (Foreword by), Lawrence Hill
Books, 1999, Paperback
Between 1760 and 1902, more than 200 book-length autobiographies of
ex-slaves were published; together they form the basis for all subsequent
African America literature. I Was Born a Slave collects the 20 most
significant "slave narratives". Many of the narratives -- such as those
of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs -- have achieved reputations
as masterpieces; but some of the lesser-known narratives are equally
brilliant. This unprecedented anthology presents them unabridged, providing
each one with helpful introductions and annotations.

I Wonder as I Wander: An Autobiographical Journey

Hughes, Langston , Rampersad, Arnold (Illustrator)Rampersad, Arnold
(Introduction by), Hill & Wang, 1993, Paperback, $16.00
Recalls the most dramatic and intimate moments of Hughes' life in the
turbulent 1930s. His wanderlust leads him to Cuba, Haiti, Russia, Soviet
Central Asia, Japan, Spain (during its Civil War), through dictatorships,
wars, revolutions. He meets and brings to life the famous and the humble,
from Arthur Koestler to Emma, the Black Mammy of Moscow.

In the Black: A History of African Americans on Wall Street

Bell, Gregory S, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, Hardcover, $24.95
A fascinating history of the African-American experience on Wall Street
by Gregory Bell, the son of the man who founded the first black-owned
member firm of the New York Stock Exchange.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Jacobs, Harriet A , Evers-Williams, Myrlie (Afterword by), Signet
Classics, 2000, Mass Market Paperbound, $5.95
One of the most significant slave narratives ever written is now released
for the first time in mass market paperback. Writing as Linda Brent,
Harriet Jacobs relates her incredible story--from her sale as a slave
to an abusive master to her bid for freedom as the lover of a white
man to her ultimate emancipation. Afterword by Myrlie Evers-Williams.

Let America Be America Again: And Other Poems

Hughes, Langston , Kerry, John (Preface by), Vintage Books USA,
2004, Paperback, $6.50
"I believe in an America in which opportunity and justice truly are
for all. That was the essence of the life an poetry of Langston Hughes."--Senator
John Kerry, from the Preface
A beautifully designed collection of some of the greatest poems by a
quintessentially American poet, whose theme of the promise of American
inclusiveness continues to ring true.
Langston Hughes was uncommonly attuned to the ideals of freedom and
democracy and the sometimes elusive American dream. The poems collected
here offer a hopeful, truly democratic vision for America. Incantatory
and stirring, passionate and provocative, they are as resonant for our
times as they were over half a century ago. Contents: "Let America Be
America Again," "Dream of Freedom," "America," "Search," "Some Day,"
"In Time of Silver Rain," "Dare," "Give Us Our Peace," "I Dream a World."

Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America

Berlin, IRA, Belknap Press, 2000, Paperback, $19.95
"Ira Berlin provides a sweeping survey of slavery and black life in
North America . . . from the early 17th into the early 19th century.
The result is the best general history we now have of the 'peculiar
institution' during its first 200 years."--George M. Fredrickson, "New
York Times Book Review." Maps & woodcuts.

Truth, Sojourner, Gilbert, Olive, Dover Publications, 1997, Paperback,
$1.50
One of the most important documents of slavery ever written, this landmark
in the literature of African-American women is the eloquent autobiography
of a woman who became a pioneer in the struggles for racial and sexual
equality. The spiritual, inspiring narrative bears witness to Sojourner
Truth's 30 years as a slave in upstate New York.

Narrative of Sojourner Truth

Truth, Sojourner, Washington, Margaret (Editor) Gilbert, Olive,
Vintage Books USA, 1993, Paperback, $9.95
One of the most important documents of slavery ever written, this landmark
in the literature of African-American women is the eloquent autobiography
of a woman who became a pioneer in the struggles for racial and sexual
equality. The spiritual, inspiring narrative bears witness to Sojourner
Truth's 30 years as a slave in upstate New York.

Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Bondswoman of Olden Time, with a History
of Her Labors and Correspondence Drawn from Her "Book of Life"

Douglass, Frederick , Garrison, William Lloyd (Preface by), Dover
Publications, 1995, Paperback, $1.00
Written more than a century ago by Frederick Douglass, a former slave
who went on to become a famous orator, U.S. minister, and a leader of
his people, this masterpiece is one of the most eloquent indictments
of slavery ever recorded. Douglass's shocking narrative takes the reader
into the world of the South's antebellum plantations and reveals the
daily terrors he suffered as a slave, shedding invaluable light on one
of the most unjust periods in the history of America.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave: An
American Slave

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. , Halperin, unknown Douglass, Frederick
(Introduction by), Laurel Press, 1997, Mass Market Paperbound, $6.99
Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the book's publication, this new
Laurel edition of the classic autobiography features an Introduction
by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., today's most influential black intellectual,
offers a fresh perspective on what Douglass's book means today in his
Introduction to this edition.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave: Written
by Himself

Douglass, Frederick , Blassingame, John W (Editor)McKivigan, John
R (Editor), Yale University Press, 2001, Paperback, $7.95
The powerful story of slavery that has become a classic of American
autobiography is now available in an authoritative edition. Includes
a thorough Introduction by Douglass scholar John Blassingame, historical
notes, and reader responses to the first edition of 1845. Illustrations.

Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown

Brown, Henry Box , Newman, Richard (Introduction by) Gates, Henry
Louis, Jr. (Foreword by), Oxford University Press, 2003, Paperback,
$9.95
Unavailable for years, this is the fascinating story of Box Brown who,
in 1849, shipped himself in a wooden crate from Virginia to the Anti-Slavery
Office in Philadelphia. 6 illustrations.

Native Son

Wright, Richard , Rampersad, Arnold (Introduction by), Perennial,
2003, Paperback, $13.00
Widely acclaimed as one of the finest books ever written on race and
class divisions in America, this powerful novel reflects the forces
of poverty, injustice, and hopelessness that continue to shape out society.

Notes of a Native Son

Baldwin, James A, Beacon Press, 1984, Paperback, $14.00
Originally published in 1955, James Baldwin's first nonfiction book
has become a classic. These searing essays on life in Harlem, the protest
novel, movies, and Americans abroad remain as powerful today as when
they were written.

Our Nig: Or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black

Wilson, Harriet E , Wilson, Harriet E (Editor) Gates, Henry Louis,
Jr. (Introduction by), Vintage Books USA, 2002, Paperback, $12.00
An enduring contribution to the understanding of free blacks in the
19th century. Originally published in 1859, it was neglected for over
a 100 years and is now the subject of renewed scholarly interest.

Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63

Branch, Taylor, Simon & Schuster, 1989, Paperback, $20.00
Hailed as the most masterful story ever told of the American civil rights
movement, Parting the Waters is destined to endure for generations.
Branch provides an unsurpassed portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s,
rise to greatness and illuminates the courage, the deals, betrayals,
and rivalries that determined history. Winner of the National Book Critics
Circle Award. Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times Book
Review, The Boston Globe, and the Los Angeles Times.

Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65

Branch, Taylor, Simon & Schuster, 1999, Paperback, $17.00
In the second volume of the three-part trilogy of monumental history
that began with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Parting the Waters,
Taylor Branch recreates the dramas that affected every American as the
civil rights movement grew in size, impact, and intensity. of photos.

Pioneers in Protest

Bennett, Lerone, Johnson Publishing Company, 1968, Hardcover, $10.95

Politics and Ideology in the Age of the Civil War

Foner, Eric, Oxford University Press, 1981, Paperback, $16.95

Race Matters

West, Cornel, Vintage Books USA, 1994, Paperback, $12.00
The scholar, theologian, and activist who has been acclaimed as one
of the most eloquent voices in our ongoing racial debate now bridges
the gulf between black and white America in a work of enormous resonance
and moral authority. West takes on the questions of politics, economics,
ethics, and spirituality and addresses the crisis in black leadership.

Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of
Racial Inequality in the United States

Weil, Simone , Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
2003, Paperback, $24.95
Racism is alive and well although it has changed its clothes. Color-blind
racism combines elements of liberalism in the abstract with anti-minority
views to justify contemporary racial inequality.

Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877

Foner, Eric , Commager, Henry Steele (Introduction by), Perennial,
2002, Paperback, $23.95
This "masterful treatment of one of the most complex periods of American
history" ("New Republic) made history when it was originally published
in 1988. It redefined how Reconstruction was viewed by historians and
people everywhere in its chronicling of how Americans—black and
white— responded to the unprecedented changes unleashed by the
war and the end of slavery.

Wright, Richard, Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. Appiah, Kwame Anthony,
Amistad Press, 1993, Paperback, $14.95
Of the numerous achievements that distinguish Richard Wright's (1908
-- 1960) place in the history of American literature, perhaps none is
more important than the fact that he was the first African-American
writer to sustain himself professionally from his writings alone. Primarily
through the success of "Native Son" and "Black Boy," Wright was able
to support, for two decades, a comfortable life for himself and his
family in Paris. He also became, with the publication of "Native Son"alone,
the first internationally celebrated Black American author. If one had
to identify the single most influential shaping force in modern Black
literary history, one would probably have to point to Wright and the
publication of "Native Son, "his first and most successful novel.--
from the Preface by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Root and Branch: African Americans in New York and East Jersey, 1613-1863

Hodges, Graham Russell, University of North Carolina Press, 1999,
Paperback, $21.95
In this remarkable book, Graham Hodges presents a comprehensive history
of African Americans in New York City and its rural environs from the
arrival of the first African -- a sailor marooned on Manhattan Island
in 1613 -- to the bloody Draft Riots of 1863. Throughout, he explores
the intertwined themes of freedom and servitude, city and countryside,
and work, religion, and resistance that shaped black life in the region
through two and a half centuries. Hodges chronicles the lives of the
first free black settlers in the Dutch-ruled city, the gradual slide
into enslavement after the British takeover, the fierce era of slavery,
and the painfully slow process of emancipation. He pays particular attention
to the black religious experience in all its complexity and to the vibrant
slave culture that was shaped on the streets and in the taverns. Together,
Hodges shows, these two potent forces helped fuel the long and arduous
pilgrimage to liberty.

Roots

Haley, Alex, Rebound by Sagebrush, 1980, Prebound, $16.65
This "bold . . . extraordinary . . . blockbuster . . ". (Newsweek) begins
with a birth in 1750, in an African village; it ends seven generations
later at the Arkansas funeral of a black professor whose children are
a teacher, a Navy architect, an assistant director of the U.S. Information
Agency, and an author.

Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations

Winbush, Raymond A, Amistad Press, 2003, Paperback, $13.95
In this collection of essays, Congressman John Conyers, Shelby Steele,
David Horowitz, and others address the ongoing issue of reparations
for African Americans from a legal, emotional, and practical standpoint.

Slavery and Freedom in the Rural North: African Americans in Monmouth
County, New Jersey, 1665-1865

Hodges, Graham Russell, Madison House, 1997, Paperback, $21.95
This unique social history, focusing on a single community in eastern
New jersey, addresses many long-held assumptions about slavery and emancipation
outside the plantation South.

Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study

Patterson, Orlando, Harvard University Press, 1982, Paperback,
$25.95

Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market

Johnson, Walter, Harvard University Press, 2001, Paperback, $16.95
This award-winning volume takes readers inside the New Orleans slave
market, the largest in the nation, where 100,000 men, women, and children
were packaged, priced and sold. Johnson transforms the statistics of
this chilling practice into the human drama of traders, buyers, and
slaves, negotiating sales that would alter the life of each.

Coles, Robert , Ford, George (Illustrator), Scholastic Paperbacks,
2004, Paperback, $5.99
Category: Biography"Please, God, try to forgive those people. Because
even if they say those bad things, They don't know what they're doing."This
is the true story of an extraordinary 6-year-old who helped shape history
when she became the first African-American sent to first grade in an
all white school. This moving book captures the courage of a little
girl standing alone in the face of racism."Ford's moving watercolor
paintings...capture the...warmth of Ruby's family and community, the
immense powers against her, and her shining inner strength." --Booklist

Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America,
1638" 187

Du Bois, W E B, Dover Publications, 1999, Paperback, $10.95
Comprehensive, well-documented classic examines the South's plantation
economy and its influence on the slave trade, the role of Northern merchants
in financing the slave trade, and much else.

The African-American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our
Country

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. , West, Cornel (Joint Author), Free Press,
2002, Paperback, $16.00
In a highly original and historic celebration of black Americans and
their contributions to culture, the authors select 100 outstanding men
and women and use their lives and accomplishments to create a fascinating
portrait of the last century. Their selections are drawn from the worlds
of politics and business, literature, sports, music, science, and cultural
criticism.

Logan, Rayford Whittingham, Foner, Eric (Introduction by), Da Capo
Press, 1997, Paperback, $18.50
Between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the end of World War I
in 1918 African Americans experienced their nadir. The Betrayal of the
Negro (originally published as The Negro in American Life and Thought
and subsequently expanded) is the only full-scale account to document
with encyclopedic research this neglected phase in American history.
The author examines every aspect of our country's post-Reconstruction
retreat from equality: the economic factors, the Supreme Court Decemberisions,
Booker T. Washington and his "Era of Compromise", and, in a unique and
disturbing survey, the racist caricatures that dominated the most liberal
newspapers and magazines of the day. Dispassionate and insightful, Logan
unfolds a narrative of national betrayal as harrowing as it is heartbreaking.

The Big Sea: An Autobiography

Hughes, Langston , Rampersad, Arnold (Illustrator), Hill & Wang,
1993, Paperback, $15.00
Introduction by Arnold Rampersad.
Langston Hughes, born in 1902, came of age early in the 1920s. In "The
Big Sea he recounts those memorable years in the two great playgrounds
of the Decemberade--Harlem and Paris. In Paris he was a cook and waiter
in nightclubs. He knew the musicians and dancers, the drunks and dope
fiends. In Harlem he was a rising young poet--at the center of the "Harlem
Renaissance."
Arnold Rampersad writes in his incisive new introduction to "The Big
Sea, an American classic: "This is American writing at its best--simpler
than Hemingway; as simple and direct as that of another Missouri-born
writer...Mark Twain."

The Black Diaspora

Segal, Ronald, Noonday Press, 1996, Paperback, $32.00

The Bondwoman's Narrative

Crafts, Hannah , Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. (Editor), Warner Books,
2003, Paperback, $14.95
The "New York Times" bestseller that is possibly the first novel written
by an African-American woman is now in trade paperback. "Immensely entertaining
and illuminating."--"New York Times Book Review."

The Children

Halberstam, David, Ballantine Books, 1999, Paperback, $18.95
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Best and the Brightest, The
Reckoning", and "The Fifties" now tells the story of the civil rights
movement, as seen through the eyes of the young people--the "Children"--who
became early revolutionaries in Nashville in the 1960s.

The Classic Slave Narratives

Various, unknown , Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. (Editor)Gates, Henry
Louis, Jr. (Introduction by), Signet Classics, 2002, Mass Market Paperbound,
$6.95
This collection of four first-hand accounts of slavery were chosen from
the experiences of more than 6,000 ex-slaves, who by 1944 had written
moving stories of their captivity. This volume includes portraits of
the lives of Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass, Mary Prince, and Harriet
Jacobs.

The Cornel West Reader

West, Cornel, Basic Civitas Books, 2000, Paperback, $20.95
From an essential philosopher of the modern American experience, a career's
worth of essays on race, religion, politics, philosophy, and the arts

The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks

Robinson, Randall N, Plume Books, 2001, Paperback, $13.00
The author of "Defending the Spirit" makes a stirring call for America
to face up to the devastating effects of slavery and educate all Americans
on the century of racial discrimination that followed. The political
leader makes a persuasive case for the debt white America owes blacks,
and the debt blacks owe themselves.

The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader: Documents, Speeches, and
Firsthand Accounts from the Black Freedom Struggle

Baldwin, James A, Vintage Books USA, 1992, Paperback, $9.95
At once a powerful evocation of his childhood in Harlem and a disturbing
examination of the consequences of racial injustice, The Fire Next Time,
which galvanized the nation in the early days of the Civil Rights movement,
stands as one of the essential works of our literature.

The Future of the Race

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. , West, Cornel, Vintage Books USA, 1997,
Paperback, $12.95
In an unprecedented collaboration, two of our foremost African-American
thinkers exmaine the legacy of their intellectual ancestor, the great
W.E.B. Du Bois, and especially Du Bois's notion of the "Talented Tenth",
a black elite that would serve as models and leaders for the black community
at large. "Provocative".--Chicago Tribune.

The Great Migration in Historical Perspective: New Dimensions of Race,
Class, and Gender

Marable, Manning, Basic Books, 2003, Paperback, $18.50
One of America's most influential historians and interpreters of the
black experience reinvents racial politics for the twenty-first century.

The House That Race Built: Original Essays on Bl Ack Americans and
Politics in America

Toni Morrison, Angela Davis, Cornel West, and others, Vintage Books
USA, 1998, Paperback, $14.95
C confronts, honestly and passionately, the most critical issues facing
American culture today along the fissure of race. In these essays, brought
together by the scholar Wahneema Lubiano, some of today's most respected
intellectuals share their ideas on race, power, gender, and society.
The authors argue that we have reached a crisis of democracy represented
by an ominous shift toward a renewed white nationalism in which racism
is operating in coded, quasi-respectable new forms. They urge us to
recognize this fact and to work toward destroying the old, destructive
patterns of racial dominion forever.

The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American
South, 1670-1717

Gallay, Alan, Yale University Press, 2002, Hardcover, $40.00
Gallay places Native Americans at the center of the story of European
colonization and the evolution of plantation slavery in America. He
explores the impact of such contemporary forces as the African slave
trade, the unification of England and Scotland, and the competition
among European empires as well as political and religious divisions
in England and in South Carolina.

The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden
History of the Revolutionary Atlantic

King, Martin Luther, Jr., Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2001, Paperback,
$6.00
Eloquent and passionate, reasoned and sensitive, this pair of meditations
by the revered civil-rights leader contains the theological roots of
his political and social philosophy of nonviolent activism.

The MIS-Education of the Negro

Woodson, Carter G, Kunjufu, Jawanza (Introduction by), African
American Images, 2000, Paperback, $12.95
Originally released in 1933, The Mis-Education of the Negro continues
to resonate today, raising questions that readers are still trying to
answer. The impact of slavery on the Black psyche is explored and questions
are raised about our education system, such as what and who African
Americans are educated for, the difference between education and training,
and which of these African Americans are receiving. Woodson provides
solutions to these challenges, but these require more study, discipline,
and an Afrocentric worldview. This new edition contains a biographical
profile of the author, a new introduction, and study questions.

Davis, Angela Yvonne, AK Audio, 1999, Compact Disc, $14.98
Over the last generation, the U.S. prison systems have grown at a rate
unparalleled in history, creating what many call a Prison Industrial
Complex. Angela Davis explains what happens to our legal system when
we lock up more people for longer sentences, which industries are a
part of the Prison Industrial Complex, and how to stop or slow prison
growth.

The Reckoning: What Blacks Owe to Each Other

Robinson, Randall N, Plume Books, 2003, Paperback, $14.00
Robinson examines the crime and poverty that grips much of urban America
and urges black Americans to speak out and reach back to ensure their
social and economic success in the U.S.

The Rise and Fall of American Slavery: Freedom Denied, Freedom Gained

McNeese, Tim , Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. (Foreword by), Enslow Publishers,
2004, Library Binding, $26.60
During the 1500s, 1600s, and 1700s, millions of Africans were captured,
taken from their homelands, and brought against their will to the New
World and its various colonies. Author Tim McNeese explores the complicated
history of American slavery, detailing the various opinions and actions
that erupted from this heated issue in the new nation of the United
States. Drawing from authoritative sources, McNeese weaves together
Americas story of the struggle to free the slaves.

The Shaping of Black America: The Struggles and Triumphs of African-Americans,
1619-1990s

Bennett, Lerone , White, Charles (Illustrator), Penguin Books,
1993, Paperback, $14.95
In a triumphant companion volume to his epochal Before the Mayflower,
Bennett renders the African American experience chronologically, telling
its story from a developmental perspective. A bold and literate work
demonstrating "that blacks lived in a different time and different reality
in this country".

The Slave Trade in America: Cruel Commerce

Worth, Richard , Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. (Foreword by), Enslow
Publishers, 2004, Library Binding, $26.60
Author Richard Worth explains the history of slave trading in the United
States. For an enslaved African, the slave trade meant possible death
in the long voyages from Africa to America. It also meant the agonizing
possibility of being separated from ones family. Worth not only explains
the Triangular Trade and the dreaded Middle Passage, but also the American
internal slave trade that arose after international slave trading was
banned by Congress.

Du Bois, W E B , Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. (Foreword by), Bantam
Classics, 1989, Mass Market Paperbound, $5.50
"The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line."
Thus speaks W.E.B. Du Bois in "The Souls Of Black Folk, one of the most
prophetic and influental works in American literature. In this eloquent
collection of essays, first published in 1903, Du Bois dares as no one
has before to describe the magnitude of American racism and demand an
end to it. He draws on his own life for illustration, from his early
experiences teaching in the hills of Tennessee to the death of his infant
son and his historic break with the conciliatory position of Booker
T. Washington. Far ahead of its time, "The Souls Of Black Folk both
anticipated and inspired much of the black conciousness and activism
of the 1960's and is a classic in the literature of civil rights. The
elegance of DuBois's prose and the passion of his message are as crucial
today as they were upon the book's first publication.

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., Basic Civitas Books, 2003, Hardcover,
$18.95
Told with lyricism and critical skill, this moving celebration of the
mother of African-American literature is penned by a master storyteller
and scholar.

The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.

King, Coretta Scott (Selected by); King, Martin Luther, Jr., Newmarket
Press, 2001, Paperback, $6.95
This timeless volume includes highlights from the legendary civil rights
leader's speeches, sermons, and writings, selected by Dr. King's wife,
who contributes an impressive introduction on his life and legacy. Includes
120 quotations focusing on the Community of Man, Racism, Civil Rights,
and more, and a detailed chronology of Dr. King's life.

Goodman, Cynthia, Crew, Spencer, Bulfinch Press, 2003, Hardcover,
$24.95
An adaptation of HBOUs documentary special for 2003, "Unchained Memories"
is a riveting compilation of more than 40 narratives drawn from interviews
with former slaves conducted in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration.
From slave auctions to emancipation, the narratives trace the extraordinary
experience of life in perhaps the darkest period of the nation's history.

Uncle Tom's Children

Wright, Richard, Perennial, 2004, Paperback, $12.95
Set in the American Deep South, each of the powerful novellas collected
here concerns an aspect of the lives of black people in the postslavery
era, exploring their resistance to white racism and oppression. Published
in 1938, this was the first book from Wright, who would continue on
to worldwide fame as the author of the novels "Native Son and "Black
Boy.

Up from Slavery

Washington, Booker T, Dover Publications, 1995, Paperback, $2.00
Vividly recounting Washington's life--his childhood as a slave, struggle
for education, founding and presidency of the Tuskegee Institute, and
meetings with the country's leaders, this book reveals the conviction
he held that the black man's salvation lay in education, industriousness
and self-reliance.

King, Martin Luther, Jr. , Jackson, Jesse L, Sr (Afterword by),
Signet Classics, 2000, Mass Market Paperbound, $6.95
This paperback reissue of a classic not only examines King's Birmingham
campaign for civil rights, but the history of the struggle and the tasks
that await future generations fighting for equality. New Afterword by
Rev. Jesse Jackson. Reissue.

Women, Culture & Politics

Davis, Angela, Vintage Books USA, 1990, Paperback, $13.95
A sequel of sorts to the author's masterful Women, Race And Class, this
book examines the critical issues important to women: racism, violence,
health, children, education and peace.

Women, Race, & Class

Davis, Angela Yvonne, Vintage Books USA, 1983, Paperback, $13.00
A powerful study of the women's movement in the U.S. from abolitionist
days to the present that demonstrates how it has always been hampered
by the racist and classist biases of its leaders.

Zora Neale Hurston: Critical Perspectives Past and Present

Hurston, Zora Neale , Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. Appiah, Kwame Anthony,
Amistad Press, 1999, Paperback, $14.95Twenty years ago, Hurston's (1891-1960) work was largely out-of-print,
her literary legacy alive only to a tiny, devoted band of readers who
were often forced to photocopy her works if they were to be taught..
.Today her works are central to the canon of African-American, American,
and Women's literatures ... Hurston was one of the most widely acclaimed
Black authors for the two Decades between 1925 and 1945."-- from
the Preface by Henry Louis Gates